A multiplicity of identities: The intersections of cranial vault modification, paleodiet, and sex in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

Abstract Objectives Intentional cranial modification and diet serve as markers of identity. Here, we explore the intersection between the body and social persona in the San Pedro oases through the complex relationship(s) between these markers and other aspects of society and the individual. Methods Skeletal remains of 1190 individuals were analyzed for evidence of intentional head shaping and classed as unmodified, tabular, or annular. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of bone (n = 203) focused on the contribution of C3 plants, C4/CAM plants, beans, and terrestrial animal meat per the Bayesian model, FRUITS. Strontium isotope data from dental enamel was considered for more detailed analyses. Results Cranial modification was present in 520 individuals (43.7%; N = 1190). Modification was significantly more common among females (χ 2 = 7.403, p = 0.007). There was no significant difference in presence or type between periods. Average values for the four modeled food groupings differ significantly. There is a significant difference in consumption of C4/CAM plants by those individuals with modified heads consuming more (26.5 ± 9.9% vs. 23.6 ± 9.4%, Wilcoxon signed‐rank test, p < 0.05). In the Middle Period sample, males consume significantly more C4/CAM plants (p < 0.05) and females more C3 plants (p < 0.01). Four of those with outlier C4 values were analyzed for strontium, yielding values outside the “local” range. Conclusions As head shaping is permanently imposed in infancy while dietary patterns are the consequence of ongoing choices and constraints in the social and ecological environment, these markers of identity are not parallel. The numerous points of intersection between these markers and other aspects of identity are highlighted.

complex, and overlapping identities, any of which could be embodied in various ways. Here, we consider cranial vault modification, a deliberate practice enacted in childhood that results in a visible and permanent alteration of head shape, and food consumption, a more quotidian element of identity. Ultimately, both practices embody some form of social identity whose presence and interaction are broadly visible in prehistoric societies.
Head shaping operates within cultural constraints but is widely seen in the prehistoric world. With the practice of head shaping, there are aspects of collective identity imbued not only in the visible signifier (the reshaped head), but also in the customs used to create specific head shapes during infancy or, indeed, in the decision to abstain from modifying the head (e.g., Duncan & Vail, 2018;Torres-Rouff, 2020). Similarly, social identities are enmeshed with food preparation and consumption practices and in food choices themselves (e.g., Curet & Pestle, 2010;Hastorf, 2017). These presentations of identity, both immutable in the form of head shape, and mutable in the scope of a lifetime of diet, then reflect different and intersecting aspects of any individual's social identities (Torres-Rouff & Knudson, 2017). The lens provided by body alterations and the patterns manifest in diet make clear that embodiment is an iterative and transformative process that occurs throughout the life course and can be studied in human populations globally (e.g., Ingold & Pálsson, 2013;Joyce, 2005;Meskell, 2001). Therefore, if cranial vault modification serves to signal aspects of shared social identity to the individual and the group, and food in some sense creates and reinforces identity, can we use data from each to discuss the ways that head shape and diet speak to each other and to identity construction more broadly?
Through analysis of head shaping in 1190 crania from the San Pedro de Atacama oases of northern Chile, we document patterns of cranial vault modification in terms of presence/absence, the distribution of different types of modification, and the degree of modification.
We briefly explore changes in head shaping practices through time, across cemeteries, and its relationship with biological sex. Once these parameters of early embodiment and identity are defined, we consider their intersection with longer term/cumulative processes of identity formation as viewed through food practices. Specifically, cranial modification data are considered in relation to the results of stable isotope analysis of carbon and nitrogen from 203 individuals from the oases.
We use these integrated data sets to explore multiplicity in identities and the potential intersections between the manifestation of crucial child rearing practices in head shaping and the everyday actions of preparing, eating, and sharing meals.
Variations in burials from the San Pedro de Atacama oases provide strong evidence that individuals manifested different identities, practices, and access to resources. Beyond the material record, which shows differences in material wealth as well as in specific items including foreign and ritual goods included in the grave (e.g., Horta, 2014;Llagostera 2004;Núñez, 1992;Plaza & Martin on-Torres, 2021;Salazar et al., 2014;Torres-Rouff, 2008;Torres-Rouff & Knudson, 2017), the individuals themselves embody differences among the population. This manifests, for example, in the ways that some individuals were subject to violent injury in highly visible and scarring ways (i.e., Torres-Rouff, 2011;Torres-Rouff et al., 2018) and equally in what seems to have been multiple social distinctions between males and females in dress, diet, and head shape (i.e., Pestle et al., 2016;Stovel, 2001Stovel, , 2013Torres-Rouff, 2008). While there are status differences between individuals interred in oases cemeteries (e.g., Hubbe et al., 2012;Torres-Rouff et al., 2015), there are no clear categories that make that analysis easily accessible here.
Head shaping and diet, therefore, are both embodied practices that through attention and repetition carry social significance. In both cases, this significance goes beyond the individual to reflect culture and group identity or affiliation. As practices that reflect social interactions and commitments, they can speak to us about the experience of living a life in the prehistoric Atacameño oases and potentially serve as a model for these explorations elsewhere.
In the Andes broadly, as well as in the Atacameño oases more specifically, cranial modification is understood to serve as a marker of identity (e.g., Andrushko, 2021;Blom, 2005;Torres-Rouff, 2020;Velasco, 2018). The documented patterns in the Atacameño oases indicate individual and cemetery-level variation, as well as changes over the large spans of time the oases have been occupied (Torres-Rouff, 2007). The permanence and visibility of head shaping suggest that it codes for something in the child rearing period that continues to be relevant and manifest in adulthood. Archeologically, we cannot access motivation or the specifics of meaning that are associated with any particular modification, or lack thereof, by an individual, family or community. We can, however, see that there was an effort to convey meaning and association, and that there were likely different meanings conveyed by the presence or the absence of modification, the varied forms employed, and in the strength/degree of the modification.
In contrast to head shaping, diet can document communal identity but also may reflect the fluidity of identities over the life course.
Despite isotope analyses providing a single data point for the individuals considered here, each of these points reflects years of individual and societal decisions. Diet reveals the regular choices made by an individual, family, or other social group about what to eat, and consequently can communicate key aspects of social identity, including class or social status, (Curet & Pestle, 2010;Fischler, 1988;Guyatt et al., 1993;McDade, 2005;Mintz, 1985;Pottier, 1999;Smith, 2006;Ware, 1987).
As Hastorf (2017, p. 3) notes, "Societies are made manifest in their food traditions, recipes, and the daily cycles that meals dictate, formed in the sharing of meals and dishes. These actions create society, which in turn becomes the milieu of identity formation." In the case of the San Pedro oases, our earlier findings show notable dietary variation in smaller samples (Hubbe et al., 2012;Pestle et al., 2016). As such we expect there to have been identity-driven dietary variability (particularly in the consumption of meat vs. legumes and C 3 vs. C 4 plants) that would be in keeping with archeological and ethnohistoric evidence of linkages between status and the consumption of maize beer (chicha) and meat (Duke, 2011;Hastorf & Johannessen, 1993;Jennings, 2004). These patterns of variation reflect ongoing choices as well as the many limitations in the social and ecological environments. Together then, diet and head shape may reveal both shared and distinct identities embodied in the people of the Atacameño oases.
Is it possible therefore, that what we see in diet as a mutable form of identity that stands as a proxy for resource access and some forms of collective identity also has ties to head shape and those immutable forms of identity that are imposed on infants? This raises the idea that multiple axes of identity are intersecting and represented in each individual body. As originally framed by Crenshaw (1989Crenshaw ( , 1991 intersectionality considers "categories not as distinct but as always permeated by other categories, fluid and changing, always in the process of creating and being created by dynamics of power" (Cho et al., 2013, p. 795). Here we can focus on whether head shape and diet echo similarities in identity construction and embodiment between individuals or if they in fact speak to different aspects of identity at play in each body. As such, this understanding of multiple and fluid social identities intersecting in the body can frame our understanding of the lived experience of people in the prehistoric Atacameño oases. Here, we investigate whether head shaping and diet embody different aspects of identity and social differentiation and if this changes over time, with the more cosmopolitan Middle Period (AD 400-1000) potentially reflecting different tendencies than the more insular Late Intermediate Period (AD 1000-1450). Posed differently, does sharing cranial modification, a particular type, or the lack thereof, connect with, or manifest in, dietary distinctions for the members of this particular society?  (Muñoz, 1989, p. 125). By the Middle Period (AD 400-1000), to which the bulk of our samples date , the oases included permanent settlements where Atacameños practiced camelid pastoralism and small-scale agriculture (Llagostera and Costa, 1999;Núñez, 2007). This is bolstered by incipient craft specialization, the growth of agriculture, and individuals who focused their energies on the caravan trade into the interior (Núñez, 1992, p. 55;Pimentel et al., 2007;Salazar et al., 2011).

| SITE BACKGROUND
Despite these changes, the Atacama oases are situated in an area where the environment strongly limited food diversity and we see, for example, no evidence for coastal imports figuring large in human diet . Núñez (1992) argued that the Middle Period shows the earliest evidence for surplus production. This phenomenon facilitates the growing caravan trade, a key factor in the rise of persistent inequality. As we have argued elsewhere (e.g., Torres-Rouff, 2008;Torres-Rouff et al., 2018), evidence suggests that the abundant prosperity and increasing engagement with local and interregional networks during the Middle Period was not an evenly distributed benefit. During the subsequent Late Intermediate Period (AD 1000-1450), this area witnessed a substantive social reorganization with the collapse of foreign influences from the Bolivian altiplano, shifts in cultural practices and material styles, a loss of human biological diversity, consolidation of settlements, and the construction of defensive structures (Llagostera, 2004;Llagostera and Costa, 1999;Mostny, 1949;Torres-Rouff, Knudson, and Hubbe, 2013).

| MATERIALS
This study incorporates data from a broad sweep of primarily Middle Period (MP; AD 400-1000) as well as some Late Intermediate Period (LIP; AD 1000-1400) skeletal collections in San Pedro de Atacama . As noted earlier, these periods encompass a time of considerable growth and interregional interaction and broad prosperity (MP), followed by the subsequent decline of these (LIP). For this study, 1190 crania from 17 sites were studied for evidence of cranial modification, and 203 individuals from 12 sites were sampled for carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses to provide insight into dietary practices (Table 1). Results of the carbon and nitrogen analyses were then deepened with the inclusion of strontium data for a small subset of the sample. The majority of these human skeletal remains were exca-

| Cranial vault modification
Crania were analyzed using standard bioarchaeological protocols (e.g., Buikstra & Ubelaker, 1994;Buzon et al., 2005). To provide a demographic profile, sex and age were assessed. Sex was determined based on the sexually dimorphic features of the skull and os coxae in adult remains. Broad age categories (juvenile, 0-18 years; young adult, 18-30 years; middle adult, 30-50 years; old adult, 50+ years) were created based on dental eruption and cranial suture closure for most individuals when post-cranial remains were unavailable. Where available, data from the os coxae were prioritized for sex and age determinations.
All skulls were analyzed for evidence of the intentional alteration of head shape. Given that cranial modification relies on visible alterations in its role as a social signifier, it likely reflects broad aspects of collective identity and affiliation, and the modification itself provides an immutable marker of this. Modified individuals were grouped into two broad categories: annular (circumferential) or tabular (frontooccipital) (e.g., Dembo & Imbelloni, 1938). The circumferential constriction of annular modification produces an elongated, narrow head shape, while tabular modification results from anteroposterior compression and produces a broadened head shape. These types of cranial modification should have been recognizably different in the living. Although substantial variations exist within these classifications, generally related to the angle of pressure, the two primary types reflect structural differences in the practice in terms of the nature of the constriction and the apparatus used to obtain a shape. Minor deviations from the unmodified state were likely undetectable in life and are not considered here. Degree of modification was scored independently for the anterior and posterior of the cranium on a scale from 0 (absent) to 4 (pronounced). This scale is based on a qualitative evaluation of each cranium and the relationship of arc and chord measurements to ascertain flatness and, therefore, degree (Torres-Rouff, 2008). The most pronounced modifications likely reflect a consistent dedication to the act of modifying a child's head and encompass those individuals with a score of 4 on either the anterior or posterior. For the purposes of this discussion, individuals with only 2 s and 3 s were considered moderately modified while those with a 1/1 or a 1 paired with a 2 were considered as having slight modification, raising the possibility that some modifications could have been obscured by hair or dress in life. The unmodified were scored as 0. As head shaping is a practice, this range helps us to see it as more than a simple typology or a binary F I G U R E 1 Map of the region with sites indicated in the text distinction between the modified and unmodified. A focus on the presence and distribution of cranial modification allows us to explore the role of head shaping by ascertaining whether time was dedicated to this practice during infancy in such a way that the body was visibly marked for life.

| Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses
Stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen were analyzed to elucidate individual level diet composition. These isotope systems were chosen given their nearly half-century history of successful archeological application and their ability, when employed using a mixture model, to discriminate among and between the isotopically and compositionally distinct food groups found in the Atacama Desert (e.g., 13 C enriched C 4 /CAM plants vs. C 3 plants depleted in 13 C, or 15 N enriched animal tissues compared with beans possessing far lower 20 15 N values). While the modeled data from carbon and nitrogen isotopes provide a panorama of dietary choices and not details of change over the lifecourse, these data give a strong sense of individual-and group-level differences and diet. Complete details on stable isotope analysis sampling, extraction, instrumentation, and modeling are presented in  and the paleodietary data discussed here are derived without modification from the data presented in that work. Nonetheless, below we provide a brief summary of the methods employed. For the present work, we consider the isotopic data of 203 individuals for whom data on cranial vault modification also was available.
Samples of dense cortical bone were removed from available skeletal elements at the Museo R.P. Le Paige using a diamond cut-off wheel on a rotary tool. The extraction of target biomolecules (collagen and hydroxyapatite) from samples was performed at the Archeological Stable Isotope Laboratory at the University of Miami. Collagen extraction followed the protocol of Longin (1971), as modified by Pestle (2010), while hydroxyapatite extraction followed a protocol first established in Lee- Thorp et al. (1989) and Krueger (1991) and modified by Pestle (2010). Isotopic analysis was performed in the Marine Geology and Geophysics Stable Isotope Laboratory at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami. Only well-preserved samples (collagen yield >0.5 wt%, carbon yield >4.5 wt %, nitrogen yield >0.9 wt%, atomic C/N ratio between 2.9 and 3.6) were included in subsequent dietary modeling. Hydroxyapatite integrity was assessed by reference to expected chemical yield range provided in Chesson et al. (2021), although as these samples hail from the driest desert in the world, postmortem alteration via typical pathways (i.e., dissolution and recrystallization) was rare.

The Bayesian model FRUITS (Food Reconstruction Using Isotopic
Transferred Signals; [Fernandes et al., 2014]) was used to quantify individual dietary composition. Consumer data for the model were based on the isotope ratios generated by IRMS. To account for fractionation, we first determined the consumer-foodstuff offset (and error) for δ 13 C co using the method detailed by Pestle et al. (2015).
Foodweb isotope values comprised the edible portions of 62 plant and animal samples ( Table 2). Any modern data included in this reference sample had δ 13 C values corrected by +1.5‰ to account for recent fossil fuel burning (Keeling et al., 1979). Furthermore, the δ 13 C value of bone samples were adjusted by À2.0‰ to account for bone collagen-edible tissue offset (Krueger & Sullivan, 1984;Lee-Thorp et al., 1989). While elevated δ 15 N values are a noted feature of arid environments (Ambrose, 1991), as all foodweb samples used in the model were locally derived, the isotopic "grade shift" of the region has no bearing on the functioning of the model. Macronutrient (protein, carbohydrate, lipid) composition of each food group was determined by reference to the USDA Nutrient Data Laboratory (2016). Elemental composition (particularly %C) of each foodstuff/macronutrient group was based on formulae provided in Morrison et al. (2000), and differences in digestibility were accounted for following Hopkins (1981). For modeling, available foodstuffs were divided into four groups reflecting taxonomy and photosynthetic pathway (beans, C 3 plants, C 4 /CAM plants, and terrestrial fauna).
To account for differential routing, all nitrogen in bone collagen was stipulated as coming from dietary protein, the carbon in hydroxyapatite was stipulated as reflecting all dietary car-bon, and the carbon composition of bone collagen was set as reflecting a 3:1 ratio of dietary protein to energy (Fernandes et al., 2012). Carbon isotope offsets between measured bulk food isotope values and the isotopic values of a foodstuff's fats (bulk δ 13 C-6‰) and carbohydrates (bulk δ 13 C + 0.5‰) were based on data from Tieszen (1981). The carbon isotope signature of a measured bulk foodstuff's protein was determined using a mass-balance equation, such that a proportional/ weighted average of the δ 13 C of protein and energy (fats and carbohydrates) would equal the measured δ 13 C bulk value (corrected for the concentration of carbon in each macronutrient and foodstuffappropriate macronutrient concentration). Consumption of protein was limited to between 10 and 50% of protein as energy (using the

| Strontium isotope analyses
We additionally contextualize the relationship between cranial modification styles and paleodiet with radiogenic strontium isotope data from specific individuals. Strontium isotope ( 87 Sr/ 86 Sr) data in archeological human remains can be used to infer the geologic region or regions in which that individual lived during enamel or bone formation, since the isotopic composition of 87 Sr/ 86 Sr in the bedrock does not change appreciably as it is incorporated into soil and water, then plants and animals and ultimately humans who live in the region, assuming the strontium is from local geologic sources (see overview in Bentley, 2006). The geological variability in the south-central Andes makes it suitable for radiogenic strontium isotope analysis, and there is a growing body of comparative data (e.g., Barberena et al., 2021;Dahlstedt et al., 2021;. Terrestrial animals 77 ± 13 23 ± 13 À16.7 ± 3.1 À15.0 ± 3.1 À22.5 ± 3.1 9.5 ± 1.8 9.5 ± 1.8 value of the small mammal samples and adding and subtracting two standard deviations generally gives a large, and therefore conservative, local range (Bentley et al., 2004;Price et al., 2002). Using this definition, we define the "local" range in the San Pedro de Atacama oases as 87 Sr/ 86 Sr = 0.7074-0.7079 (Knudson & Price, 2007;Torres-Rouff et al., 2015).
These data provide a baseline of distribution and shape variation over time and sex against which to consider dietary information. The

| Isotope analyses
Two hundred and three individuals from both periods ultimately met sample preservation standards and consequently produced reliable estimates of modeled paleodiet. When these data were considered as a whole, they revealed a spectrum of dietary differences among these 203 consumers (Tables 4 and 5 Note: San Pedro de Atacama "local" range is 87 Sr/ 86 Sr = 0.7074-0.7079 (Knudson and Price, 2007;Knudson and Torres-Rouff, 2014). Larache data previously published in Torres-Rouff et al., 2015; Tchecar data previously published in Knudson & Torres-Rouff, 2014. Dental elements included in the radiogenic strontium isotope analysis are abbreviated with U = upper or L = lower, then R = right or L = left, then dental element where M = molar, P = premolar, and C = canine.
When sex is added as a factor at this level, unmodified females were found to have consumed significantly more C 3 plants than unmodified males (Figure 3; Wilcoxon signed-rank test, p < 0.05).
There also were significant differences in intra-group variance in C 3 consumption among the four sex/modification groups (Levene's test, p < 0.05). Similar differences in variance were found among groups for C 4 /CAM plant consumption (Figure 4), and both modified males and females consumed significantly more C 4 /CAM plants than did unmodified females (Wilcoxon signed-rank test, p < 0.05). For legumes, females without modification consumed significantly more (Wilcoxon signed-rank test, p < 0.05) beans than did any of the other three groups (modified females, modified males, unmodified males).
This could be an echo of the fact that females in general, regardless of modification, consumed significantly more beans than did males.
Interestingly, there were no significant differences in terrestrial meat consumption.
F I G U R E 3 Mean modeled contribution of each food group by sex

F I G U R E 4 Mean modeled contribution of C 4 /CAM contribution by site location
These patterns would appear to reveal two main axes that intersect with dietsex and head shape. Sex seems to frame a variety of dietary choices in adulthood. For example, males with modified heads consumed a notably higher percentage of C 4 /CAM plants, although the variance in such consumption among males is substantial (from 10.6% to 54.4%), suggesting that multiple factors are at play in maize consumption for men in this sample. While modified females also have a higher rate of C 4 /CAM consumption than unmodified females, they nonetheless consumed less of these foods, on average, than modified males, and showed less internal variance in this consumption.

| DISCUSSION
While cranial modification and diet likely reflect different aspects of social identity given the permanent imposition of one in infancy and the other resulting from ongoing lifestyle choices, there is an intriguing degree of interplay between them. These do not seem to act in tandem, but rather seem to reflect different elements of the social identities of these individuals. A shared form of cranial modification, or the lack thereof, does not seem to be linked to dietary distinctions in these groups despite the fact that diet over the course of life could have been constrained by lineage, sex, or other factors that may have dictated or otherwise been reflected in head shaping choices. Instead, our data suggest that while the imposition of head shaping as a permanent marker in infancy signals some elements of social identity that are also reflected in the ongoing lifestyle choices associated with diet, we do not see clear parallels. Perhaps, this results from other intersecting aspects of identity that gain prominence over the lifecourse or the variable nature of cranial modification that may result from its importance as a child-rearing practice more than as an adult signifier. It is also important to bear in mind the dietary limitations inherent in the Atacameño oases high desert environment. Indeed, with the limited "menu" of options present, dietary choice may have manifested in very subtle differences in bulk consumption. It may be that food preparation, rather than composition, was a significant identifier that we cannot access through our data. Regardless, the child rearing habits reflected in head shaping do not seem to have extended into social differences marked by obvious dietary choices later in life. Moreover, it is clear that these indicators, diet in particular, tie into sex differences in the Atacameño oases, ultimately signaling a triumvirate of markers (sex, diet, and cranial modification) that shaped and reflected individual lived experiences.
We are, of course, unable to access the complete multiplicity of axes of identity intersecting in each individual body, but these lenses allow us to see them at play. Here, we explore these data along two axes: a broader exploration of the relationship that head shape and diet have with sex and then a more detailed view into the notable C 4 /CAM consumption distinctions seen in our sample. Together, these aspects can provide a deeper understanding of the intersection between the body and social persona in the San Pedro oases.

| Sex, head shape, and diet
The data presented above reflect a complex relationship between sex and cranial modification and dietary practices. In terms of head shaping, as we have argued in earlier work (e.g., Torres-Rouff, 2007, 2008, our data demonstrate that neither the presence nor type of head shaping are directly tied to sex in some dichotomous fashion. This coincides with data from Peru where Tung and colleagues (Tung et al., 2016;Tung & Knudson, 2018;Velasco & Tung, 2021) argue that "gender roles and gender norms may not be overtly perceived and performed until later childhood or even puberty" (Velasco & Tung, 2021, p. 2). At some level, this also parallels ethnohistoric documents about the Inka; Guaman Poma, for example, notes gendering most consistently between 9 and 12 years of age, with some practices beginning in the 5-to 9-year-old category (Lozada & Rakita, 2013, p. 116). It seems that infancy may not have been a time where gender had a strong bearing on a child's lived experience during the Inka period. We would similarly argue that this aspect of child rearing was likely not regimented by a child's perceived gender in the earlier time periods considered here.
That said, it is clear that sex has some kind of relationship to modification practices. The visible distinctions in the increased presence and degree of modification among females in our sample suggest that while the practice does not reflect binary relationships with sex where, for example, individuals in one group are modified while those in another are not, there may be some nuances tied to the way head shaping was practiced on female infants that resulted in these discrepancies. Earlier work in the Atacama has suggested the potential impact of exogamy on cranial modification practices (Costa & Llagostera, 1994), a pattern that we may see at a larger scale here. However, long-term studies of radiogenic strontium here do not show significant movement of females, calling into question this possibility (Torres-Rouff & Knudson, 2017).
Nevertheless, in the data presented here we do see slight differences in the higher presence of modification among females and the significant difference in degree of modification (Table 7) that would perhaps argue for a specific type and intensity of attention given to female infants over the long process of head shaping by practitioners.
Focusing on head shaping as a child rearing practice, we could perhaps consider Tiesler's (2010, p. 191;2014, pp. 4, 23) argument based on ethnohistoric evidence for the Maya that the practitioners are likely female family members and, as such, note that there may be an aspect visible here where if women bound the heads of infants who are gendered as girls in a particular fashion, that might result in the increased presence of, and perhaps even dedication to, the practice. This, in turn, would produce a more visible alteration in adulthood. Practitioners would make myriad decisions about head shape including techniques to best achieve their goals, local practice, familial preferences, length of use, and so on. These choices, while not made by the child being modified, likely reflect both personal and societal levels of concern and might vary somewhat based on factors that could include gender. The distinctions we see in our sample may reflect some foundational distinctions between individual children that may later resolve into more defined gender identities later in life. Importantly, it is likely that head shape serves to signify other aspects of identity beyond a binary understanding of sex, and that the differences we see reflect a continuum, wherein numerous identities, of both the child and their community, are intersecting.
In contrast to the head shaping data, sex seems to be a prominent aspect shaping food consumption over the course of life. This has previously been implied via dental health studies (Hubbe et al., 2012) showing both sex and status distinctions in caries and dental wear.
Here we see a series of notable (but not always significant) distinctions in this sample that primarily revolve around the high rates of legume and C 3 consumption by women and the elevated consumption of C 4 /CAM plants by men. These sex differences in dietary consumption in the MP remain when head shape is not considered and suggest the overarching role of sex in access to dietary resources. Hastorf (1991, p. 133), for example, argues that gender is the result of "division of labor, differential access, social negotiation, production, Interestingly this does not seem to extend to terrestrial meats, where sex does not seem to have affected consumption practices. Despite the expectation that males traveled with llama caravans as part of the major traffic and exchange networks of the MP in the Atacama (e.g., Clarkson & Santoro, 2021), this suggests that the consumption of terrestrial meats between males and females occurred at the same rates regardless of landscape. This may also put into play the possibility that meat procurement was not a strictly male activity or may have integrated with such things as female herd management.

| C 4 /CAM plant consumption
Finally, our data show interesting patterns related to head shaping and diet when it comes to C 4 /CAM plant consumption in the oases ( The three gold keros interred with Larache 358 hint at the potential role of chicha, a fermented maize beer, in these raised C 4 /CAM levels. Maize chicha is associated with elevated status and carries ideological significance throughout the Andes, as well as specifically being understood to carry social weight during the MP (Hastorf, 2003;Jennings, 2004;Logan et al., 2012). Williams and Nash (2021)  portion of the population document the varied ways that this child rearing practice was employed. Our data reveal numerous differences in degree as well as patterns that appear to hold consistent over time in the oases in terms of the presence and type of modification. These serve to reinforce the notion that head shaping does not fit into binary categories of social groups, but rather encompasses a variety of styles and potential meanings. The paleodietary data suggest that similarly complex intersections are at play, and that like with cranial modification, these reflect not only broad social distinctions, but also nuances at the individual level.
In terms of the ways in which we see intersections between cranial modification and diet, it is clear that sex plays some role in the distribution of resources among those individuals studied here. This speaks to what Joyce (2000, p. 162) has denoted as the "mosaic quality of gendered status and power." While our data suggest that sex plays no consistent role in the presence of an altered head shape, it does appear to have some influence in the degree of modification.
This may reflect broader patterns of migration or patrilocality or just the general treatment of female infants in this social context. More strongly, sex seems to shape access to food resources at some level in the oases. The details of C 4 /CAM plant consumption may also speak to Hastorf's (2017:545) assertion that "foods are not only linked to economic value but also to their associated ideological importance." It is possible that C 4 /CAM plant consumption is integrated into ritual activities surrounding chicha, as elsewhere in the Andes, and that that role was limited to a select few. As Gagnon and Juengst (2018, p. 206) argue, "Given the social and political importance of chicha,